Issue 12 17 August 2021

Newsletter Articles

VISION STATEMENT

St Rita’s School will be a compassionate and supportive community built on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, specifically incorporating the Mercy Values which are lived out. We will be a values-based community reaching out to and welcoming the wider community. Our strong school spirit will shine. St Rita’s will be a school in which every member is respectful of self and others.

PRINCIPAL’S PEN

Dear Families,

School Closure- Covid-19

What an interesting couple of weeks we’ve experienced with the 3-day lockdown and subsequent restrictions. It has been pleasing to get everyone back to school sooner than expected and our children were absolute champions at getting straight back into their learning. Please return any learning packs if you haven’t already done so. We are unlikely to be given as much time to prepare if another lockdown occurs so we will need to be ready at any stage. Thanks for your compliance with mask and school gate mandates. We hope to return to normality by the start of next week.

School Fees

We are very fortunate at St Rita’s to have the very reasonable school fees of $100 per term, per child. I know this has been appreciated by our families and it certainly makes our school an affordable option for parents in our district. However, I noticed that the booklist that comes on top of our fees can add up to be quite expensive, especially if you have multiple children attending our school. On top of that, many of the items are often sold out or on back-order making this a stressful time for families, especially post-Christmas. I know it can be frustrating for teachers too if children don’t have the books and materials they need on the first day of school. To alleviate this stress, fees will be raised to $120 per term and this will then take out the need for a booklist. Our school will purchase the items in bulk and ensure that they are available for every student from the first day of Term 1 2022. I hope this will save our families a lot of stress over January and give our children peace of mind as they start a new school year. If you would like to discuss this further, please call or make an appointment.

Alternatively, send me an email- principal.babinda@cns.catholic.edu.au. I’d love to hear your feedback.

SCHOOL UNIFORMS

I’ve noticed that some of our school uniform standards have started to slip lately. A reminder our full uniform is expected to be worn each day except Tuesday when the sports uniform is required. Navy blue winter jackets are for sale from the office at a cost of $30.00. We are most understanding if there is an issue regarding uniforms, if this is the case, please send your child’s teacher a note explaining the reason. It would be great to see all of our students looking their best, in full uniform for our school photos next Wednesday the 25th of August.

Excerp from St Rita’s Parent handbook :-

St Rita’s has a school uniform for the purpose of school identity, spirit and pride. It is also about creating an equitable environment. Much consideration has gone into making the uniform functional, attractive and suitable for students of primary school age.

• Hats
  Navy blue broad-brimmed or legionnaire caps. Students are required to wear their hats at all times when they are outside, even when playing in the shade. This is a sun-safe practice which is essential in the tropics.
• Shoes
  All black (only) closed-in shoes (Dress uniform) and joggers (Sports uniform). Shoes are a necessary item of protection at school for the safety of our children.
• Socks
  Navy socks for Dress and Sports uniform
• Girls Dress Uniform
  Navy skort with teal and navy blouse with band
• Boys Dress Uniform
  Navy shorts with teal and navy shirt
• Sports Uniform
  Navy shorts with green and navy polo shirt
• Winter Uniform
  Navy taslon jacket
• Jewellery and Hair
  - Watch, earrings (studs or sleepers only).
  - Plain religious chain/medallion (only to be worn under uniform for safety reasons).
  - Hair for boys should be collar length with no radical styling; for example, undercut, tracks, combover.
  - If girl’s hair is longer than the shoulder, it must be worn up with plain, simple hair accessories of school colours.
  - Only conventional hair styles are acceptable.
  - Hair should be of natural colour only.
  - Nails must be kept short and clean for safety. Nail polish is not permitted.

Please note: If students are out of uniform, parents are asked to provide a reason by way of a note, message in the student diary or email to the school.

Regards and blessings for the week ahead,

Michael Rowe
Principal

APRE THOUGHTS

Assumption of Mary

The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary honours the memory of Mary as Jesus’ mother and his greatest disciple. Celebrated annually on 15th August, this solemn feast day reminds believers that Mary is now one with God. It is of such importance in the Catholic Church, that it is only one of two Holy Days of Obligation observed outside of Sunday mass (with the other as the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, or Christmas). With the current restrictions in place, we held our prayer assembly as part of an online meeting with staff and students last Friday. As no visitors were able to attend in person, I would like to share some of our prayer as a collection of images:

Further to this, if you are captivated by these striking images, you may like to view more of Sr Susan Daily’s artistic reflections on each Sunday’s gospel readings at RECLAIM THE FRESHNESS OF THE GOSPEL WITH MARY WARD AND COMPANIONS.

Social Justice Issues

The Australian Bishops have recently released their 2021 Social Justice Statement: Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor, continuing the message of Pope Francis to journey towards total ecological sustainability within seven years. This statement encourages us to listen to our First Nations peoples, care for creation and respond to the needs of disadvantaged groups. There are several resources available to support our understanding of this further, including the statement, podcasts and prayer cards, which can be accessed through the socialjustice.catholic.org site:

A small way that you may be able to contribute to social justice is considering how you dispose of your family’s used garments. In a recent episode on of ABC’s Foreign Correspondent entitled “Dead White Man’s Clothes” you can see the environmental disaster that is facing countries in West Africa stemming from unusable clothes inappropriately discarded at charity collection points. It is a sobering and very worthwhile watch.

Date Claimer

Our school was due to celebrate a whole school mass, this Friday 20th August. However, this has had to be cancelled, due to the recently introduced restrictions to prevent the possible spread of Covid. At this stage, we plan to move this event to 10th September at 12pm. If restrictions are lifted, the St Rita’s school and parish family will be welcome to attend this eucharistic liturgy.

Blessings,
Maureen Gaul

BOOK WEEK 2021

The countdown is well and truly underway; only nine days until our Book Week Character Costume Parade on Thursday 26th August. This year’s theme is ‘Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds’. I hope you have all been having fun putting a costume together with your children.

Acknowledging how busy families are, please remember that it is not always necessary to dress your child from head to toe. Sometimes a creative hat or decorated shirt, an umbrella or funny shoes etc. make for a simple and fun costume. All we ask is that your child dresses as a character from one of their favourite books. The most important thing is that you and your child have fun, sharing the experience of putting a costume together.

DATE CLAIMERS

P & F News

Dear Parents,

As Father’s Day is fast approaching, the P&F have organised a small fundraising event to assist families with this celebration. We have purchased a small range of gifts for fathers and grandfathers, such as key rings, toiletries, coolers, lanyards, calculator/notebook, packpacks, magnetic photo frames etc. The Year 5/6 class students, together with available parents, will run the stall on Wednesday 1st September.

The gifts will range in price from $2 to $7. It will be a wonderful opportunity for the children to purchase a special gift for Father’s Day on Sunday 5th September.

I’m looking forward to celebrating this special event with you and I hope you will support this simple fundraiser for this term.

Thank you.
Maryjane Masina
P&F Secretary

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

MUNRO THEATRE

PLAYGROUP AT ST RITA’S

LIONS YOUTH DISCO AT RSL HALL